The Badlands National Park were named mako sica ("land" "bad") by the Sioux Indians. It refers to ow difficult it is to traval through because of the rugged terrain and lack of water.
In general, I don't think South Dakota really garners much thought from people, but I have to say, the Badlands are pretty awesome--after what seems like endless miles of flat grasslands (it IS the Great Plains and all) all of a sudden there are these deep canyons and tall spires among the Badland buttes. Lots of fossils have been found in the Badlands--the South Dakota state fossil (yes, apparenlty there is such a thing) is the triceratops.
This morning we went on a hike. I vetoed the 10 mile, 5 hour hike and we opted instead for the "moderate" 4 mile, 2 hour hike. Except to get to the trail, we had an addition 1.4 miles each way from the car. This seemed totally fine when we started out, but we were pretty exhausted by that last stretch. The severe wind advisory was no joke either.
Moving on through SD, we made quick stops at two very large stone monuments: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. We drove through Custer State Park where we were stopped by a herd of bison (tatanka!) crossing the road and then down to the town of Hot Springs for the night. We had dinner at the hipster hangout and it appears that none of the locals knew where anything was (e.g. nearest ATM, hot springs, etc.)
STATS:
Miles covered: 148
Prairie dog sightings: 50
Bison sightings: a whole herd (bison babies too)
Jackalope sightings: 0
Wind speed in the Badlands: "tornadic" (Vickie), "a million mph" (Christina), 60-80mph (Jamie)
Wind speed in the Badlands: "tornadic" (Vickie), "a million mph" (Christina), 60-80mph (Jamie)
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